What's Right Not What's Easy
by AnonymouslyKnown
Summary: Harry just realized that what he needs to accomplish won't happen with his studies from Hogwarts. He sets off on his own to train and to end the reign of Voldemort. AU after OoP
1. Guilty

Guilty, the only word to describe his feelings. It was his fault that Sirius died. No matter that Bellatrix said the curse, or Voldemort tricked him into going. No logical explanation passed through his head. Only that his godfather was dead and it was his fault.

Harry had no concept of time that passed him. He never ate, never slept, never moved, for the four days he was home. He stared, at the wall in Dudley's second bedroom. He never considered it his own. The only thing that was ever his own, was now dead: his godfather.

Another passing thought through his head was the prophecy. _Neither can live while the other survives._ It changes a man when he realizes his life has been decided for him. Kill or be killed, murder or be murdered. And with these thoughts Harry realized something, he had no idea how to fight. He needed more than learning how to change a porcupine into a pin cushion, and how to cast a tickling charm. He needed so much more than what Hogwarts had to offer.

Just like that Harry Potter came to a realization, he needed to leave and train. He blinked out of his day dreams and came up with a plan. First he realized just how hungry he was. It was the middle of the night, so he quietly slipped down stairs and raided the fridge to eat and then pulling things out to pack for himself. He picked the lock into the cupboard under the stairs like the Weasley twins taught him and he grabbed his trunk. He sent Hedwig off to the Weasley's house with a note saying that his uncle was getting angry with her and asking if she could stay. Finally, he showered and changed into Dudley's grossly oversized clothes and put an old baseball cap on. Just as dawn was starting to peak Harry left the house under his invisibility cloak lugging his trunk behind him. Walking 6 blocks away from the house he called for the night bus.

That was time Privet drive ever saw him.


	2. Free

The knight bus dropped Harry off at the leaky cauldron. Stan shrank the trunk for 'Neville' whom then put it in his pocket so it was easier to carry around. Pulling his hat down farther over his head he quickly passed through the dirty bar and made his way into Diagon Alley. Gringott's was his first stop. Being so early there weren't any other customers, he preferred it that way. As he approached the teller he realized it was Griphook, the same goblin from his first trip.

"Hello Griphook, I'd like to make a withdrawal from my account."

The goblin was very surprised to be addressed by his first name. Usually, wizards and witches did not address the goblins with courtesy, let alone know their names. The goblin then shared a very toothy grin as he cautiously looked around.

"Mr. Potter, wonderful to see you again. Did you come alone?"

Harry stuttered, "Uh yes, and I would prefer it if no one knew."

"My thoughts exactly Mr. Potter, we have the Last Will and Testament of one Sirius Orion Black and we needed you to open it since he's naming you his heir, however we were told you were unavailable."

Harry just stared at Griphook with shock. He was still had not come to terms with everything, he only awakened from the haze that morning. His mouth trembled, but no words came out. He also knew Dumbledore was being his usual self and again interfering with his life.

"Do you have your key?"

"No sir, it was given to a friend's mother who has been doing all my Hogwarts shopping the past 4 years. I've never had possession of it."

"Well then, let's fix that shall we? All I need is a drop of blood to make sure you are you and not someone under glamours or poly juice potion. Then the other key will cease to exist and your possessions will be yours alone."

With that Griphook spoke in gobbledegook to another goblin who turned and disappeared through a doorway. Griphook then escorted Harry through an elegant door off the side of the bank he never noticed before and down a long hallway to a conference room. The goblin took out an ornate knife and created a small cut on Harry's finger. The blood dropped onto a block of steel that then shaped and molded into a vault key.

As Harry went into his vault he learned that this was only a trust vault. He would be able to enter his family vault when he was either of age or emancipated. As Harry came back to the ground level two goblins were waiting for him.

"Mr. Potter, we'd like to discuss with you your godfather's will."

Harry jerked back forgetting they wanted to discuss it. He entered yet another room which he compared to a conference room. It had a large round table with enough chairs to seat 25 people. Griphook was in charge again, already sitting down with a stack of papers in his hand.

"Mr. Potter there are four things here for you today: Lord Black's Will, a list of all of his assets and properties, an envelope with your name on it, and emancipation papers. In brief, Lord Black's Will states that he leaves 30% of his monetary wealth to one Remus J. Lupin, 10% to a Nymphadora Tonks, 10% to the Weasley Family, 10% to the Order of the Phoenix, and the final 40% goes to which you is a total of 2,500,000 galleons already forwarded to your vault. He reinstated the Tonk's family into the Black family and the removal of Bellatrix Black Lestrange and Narcissa Black Malfoy upon inspection of their left arm for evidence of the dark mark. Further removal occurs to any of their descendents if they or their spouse also are branded with the dark mark. Now, Lord Black had two properties, his family home here in London, and a private one recently purchased in San Diego California U.S.A. He told me himself he wanted to move out there with you, free of England's oppression and an ocean view house with a quidditch pitch in the back yard. He also has investments in the Nimbus broom company, Zonko's, and Ogden's Alcohol whom produce Firewhiskey and Butterbeer.

"Sirius came and talked to you? But he's a wanted criminal." Harry stuttered out, shocked listening to these things about his godfather.

"We Mr. Potter do not follow your ministries ridiculous rules and have our own practices. We also have our own intelligence that informed us that dreadful night that Sirius was wrongly condemned. Too bad your ministry doesn't want our help. Now the final thing, since he was supposed to be your guardian according to your parent's wills upon their death, he had these drawn up and signed in case of this current predicament where he could no longer look out for you. If you would just sign right here you are a free and legal adult in the eyes of the ministry. And the best part is I can post pone sending this out till the end of the month for a slight fee so you can be well on your way before anyone, including Dumbledore finds out your gone."

Harry Potter, aged 15, knew right then and there that he would forever love the Goblins and never do anything to get on their bad side. He signed the papers Griphook gave him and pronounced officially a legal wizard. He was given the key to his parents vault and a key to his newly opened property. Harry went back down to his parents vault and took a look at their prized possessions. He found a trunk with photo albums and journals in them which he shrunk (now able to do magic and not enough of it) and placed it in his pocket along with his other trunk. As he returned to the main floor for the second time he asked Griphook first to change money into pounds where he was instead given a wallet. The wallet was keyed to his magical signature and would provide money from his vault in any sort of currency depending on what he asked for. Secondly Harry asked if he knew glamours so he could shop without being noticed. After fixing that problem, even though the scar couldn't be removed, however now not so noticeable, Harry thanked Griphook for all his help and told him to keep in contact, which could also be done through the wallet since it was set up through Gringott's. Leaving the bank 2 hours after entering, Harry walked down the street with a smile on his face. For the first time in his life he was going to do things his way. First on his list was to go shopping and spoil himself.


	3. Leaving

Loaded with shopping bags Harry looked for a place to temporarily stay in Diagon Alley. He didn't want to stay at the Leaky Cauldron because that's the first place everyone would look when they realized he was missing. He settled for the Merlin motel farther into town. It was off the main street but although was very grand and majestic, you could walk right past it without even noticing it. Harry opened his new trunk he purchased with several separate compartments and packed his new clothes, dragon hide boots and running sneakers, books on every subject he could find, a wand holster, new robes and even some silly things he wanted to buy. His favorite purchase was a snitch that wouldn't travel farther than 10 meters away so it couldn't get lost and was easy to catch. After ordering food in his room he settled down to decide what to do next and where he was going to go.

As he looked around he noticed the envelope that he still hadn't opened from Gringott's. With trepidation and shaking hands he opened it, tears already started to form in his eyes as he feared (not in a bad way) what his godfather had to say.

_Pronglet, _

_If you're reading this then that could only mean bad news for me. I can only hope that I was fighting for the people I love and for you as I left. I've been updating this every six months so in case something happened to me I had the most recent information for you. I want you fully prepared for what is going to come your way in life. Fate has a tricky way of dealing out the cards of life. Harry the weapon the Order has been protecting this year is a Prophecy, a Prophecy made by Trelawney to Dumbledore about you. He wanted to protect you from this however I don't know how you're being protected by not knowing. Dumbledore always liked knowing everything and sharing little. I feel that knowledge is power, and you're going to need all you can get. This is the reason why your parent went into hiding, and why Voldemort so badly wants to kill you. I don't know the exact words however the sum of it is that it is your destiny to kill Voldemort. I know that you don't want to have to kill someone; however I know more that you don't want to die, and that you would do anything to protect your family and friends lives. Even if you weren't forced to by destiny, I know you as a person Harry. You would want revenge for your parents and the life you'd had to tragically live so far. Do not run into the final fight thinking you have to or are forced to. Do it because you want to. _

_This summer I was going to travel to the States, and take you with me. You would have returned in the fall for school but I wanted you to get away and open your eyes to how much the world has to offer. You were never given a childhood, and while I can't wish you younger I wish I could give you more joy and happiness in your life. Have you ever seen the ocean before? Or even downtown London? _

_There is also another reason I chose the location I did in California. I was going to wait until after you graduated to tell you however I guess since I'm gone now is the time. In San Diego there is a training location for a group of fighters called the Navy Seals whom are a part of muggle military. Sea, air, and land, they work as individuals or small groups and are trained in unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action, counterterrorism, and special reconnaissance. I'm not forcing you into anything however Harry I feel you need the most and best training available so that when you finally face Voldemort you can kill him once and for all. They also have a wizard division that will teach you in dark arts, defense against the dark arts, occlumency, legilimency, healing, wandless magic and other common classes taught at Hogwarts. Before you freak out you need to learn dark arts so you know what you are up against. You have to fight fire with fire. You have zero background on it and very little on defense except for dark creatures. The seals magic division is very small and selective; you will train anonymously and will be trained to be better than the UK's Unspeakables. All I want is the best for you Harry, so after Voldemort is gone you can continue with your life the way you want to live it._

_I love you kiddo, more than I could ever show you. I hope you aren't wasting your time grieving over me. I'm with your parents now- my true family. I haven't been happy in a long time Harry. Being stuck in a house I hate with zero freedom was depressing. You were the only spark of happiness in my life that I had. I just wish we had more time together. Don't let this prophecy get in the way of you living your life. Don't let Dumbledore dictate any more of your life as he has the past 15. Do things you want, and your way. _

_You were the only thing I ever lived for. _

_Never goodbye, just see you later._

_Padfoot_

When Harry finished reading tears were silently falling from his eyes. _Live my own life_ he thought _that's exactly what I'm going to do. _Harry stayed the night at the motel, packed up in the morning and returned to Gringott's to speak with Griphook about getting to California.

"Mr. Potter may I suggest traveling through muggle means? Portkey's are documented and you can't apparate across seas. They can check muggle airplanes but how about a cruise liner? No one would think you'd take a cruise and party your way across the water. Plus they wouldn't be able to apparate onto the boat so even if they for who knows what reason think you left for America, they'd be there and back before you got there, and wouldn't be able to find you." Griphook said with his evil smile plastered on his face again. Harry could tell he did not think much of the ministry or Dumbledore, but he didn't mind he liked the idea.

"Okay Griphook sign me up!" Harry said with a chuckle.

Identification, licenses, and passports were created, and a ship was booked that was leaving that night for New York City. It cost more for Harry to get on it since it was last minut but with his money and newly inherited money, it didn't make a dent in his savings. A motorcycle was then purchased that he would be dropped off at port when he arrived. It would take him 6 days to cross the country on bike but would give him plenty of sightseeing opportunities. Just what Sirius wanted. An hour before the cruise was to leave Harry was saying his goodbye and promising to keep in contact with Griphook while walking out to the portkey location. The last thing he saw as he was leaving was Bill Weasley staring at him with hands full of papers and wide eyes. Then everything around him disappeared and he reappeared at a train station. He then took the muggle underground to the Port of London Authority. If anyone was to follow the portkey trace, they would be lost now with the amount of different trains running through. Harry reached the cruise ship and got on quickly since it seemed he had no luggage with him. He sat on the front of the boat and watched London become smaller and smaller until he was just surrounded my water. With a humungous smile on his face he thought about the future. And the new, and hopefully less dangerous, adventure in his life.


	4. Chaos

This is a shorter chapter but it's a filler.

* * *

Harry portkeyed to two various locations, rather quickly due to seeing Bill, he didn't want to risk being followed. He didn't like portkeys after the 4th year incident, but he didn't have any choice. Finally he arrived at the dock feeling a little nauseous after his travels. He gave his passport and ticket to the clerk as he walked through security. They looked at him incredulously since he had only a back pack on him (having nothing would seriously be causing some stares) he went to the top deck of the boat and watched London become smaller and smaller as the boat drove away. Harry had a smile his face, for the first time in his life he was going to experience something he never had before…freedom.

~~~~~~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~~~~~~

Bill Weasley watched Harry Potter get whisked away from Gringott's via portkey. He knew Harry was supposed to be under house arrest in Surrey. He also knew something was right. As soon as work was over Bill flooed to Hogwarts and to Dumbledore's office.

"Professor Dumbledore, I just saw Harry today at Gringott's! I don't know what he was doing however shouldn't he be home?"

Dumbledore sucked on a lemon drop and looked at Bill. "Mr. Weasley I can assure you that Harry is safe at home since we have a guard monitoring the house at all times. Are you sure it wasn't someone who looked like Harry?"

"Sir, I've seen and met Harry a few times, this was most definitely Harry with his messy hair and round glasses."

Dumbledore looked at the various trinkets around his room looking for any sign of them failing or raising an alarm. Nothing looked out of place however he couldn't be too sure. "Very well, let us take a trip to Privet Drive and check."

Dumbledore and Bill flooed to Arabella Figg's house and after a short but polite conversation made their way across the street. Dedalus Diggle came out from under the invisibility cloak seeing the headmaster approach and asked if something was wrong. Not getting an answer he followed the other two to the front door.

Petunia Dursley opened the door, screamed at who was there, and attempted to slam it closed. Key word being attempted.

"What are you doing here!" she screeched at Dumbledore.

"Hello Mrs. Dursley I was wondering if we could speak to Harry for a moment if you don't mind."

"I don't care what you do as long as you hurry up with your business and then keep away from here." Then uncharacteristically Petunia snickered, "Good luck talking to the freak, hasn't left his room since he got home a week ago. Doesn't come down to eat, doesn't leave the room except to use the bathroom. Starving himself for whatever reason. I don't care, as long as he stays quiet and out of the way he can do whatever he wants up there."

Bill looked disgusted after hearing this. Ron had mentioned that Harry's family hated him, he just didn't realize how bad it truly was. Didn't care that he hasn't eaten in a week? Hasn't even left his room? The boy was probably killing himself over Sirius's death. As they walked up the stairs he increasingly became more anxious of what they were going to see. As Dumbledore opened the door and looked in thy were quite shocked. No one was there.

"Dedalus, have you seen anything strange on your watch over the house?" Dumbledore asked, getting more and more nervous.

"No sir, Harry hasn't come in or out of the house since I've been on watch."

"Let's get back to headquarters. We're having an emergency meeting."

20 minute later the Order was crammed in the kitchen trying to figure out why an emergency meeting was being held. Remus looked miserable; he lost his best friend a second time and was having a rough time with it. Snape was his usual despondent self, with a sneer on his face. Everyone else was looking at each other just curious as what was going on and why Ron and Hermione, mere children, were allowed in the meeting.

Albus Dumbledore walked into the kitchen looking quite his old age, and his eyes not holding their usual twinkle. He looked around the room with a frown on his face.

"Harry Potter is missing."

And with those 4 words, chaos ensued.

* * *

Review =]


	5. Diego

To say that the cruise was fantastic would not even begin to explain how truly wonderful it was for Harry. Now, he was cruising on a Kawasaki Ninja across the United States on the old Route 66. With Notice-me-not charms on him and the bike he was racing down the road at top speeds. When he reached Los Angeles, California he then drove south down the coast, finally reaching his destination of San Diego.

Harry checked into a hotel and went downtown to eat dinner. Afterwards he took a walk on the beach taking in the site of his new home. Tomorrow he would go house hunting as well as enter the magical area called Didacus Lane.

They alley was vastly different Diagon alley, you didn't have to travel through a bar and a brick wall to get to the hidden area. In fact, it was a street off of the boardwalk, muggles walking down the street would think it was a rundown and dirty alley with dumpsters. However to the magical eye it was a lively and thriving atmosphere. Not only did it have the normal wizarding shops, it had muggleborn friendly places as well. Harry used this to his advantage when he saw an optometrist office. After five minutes of waiting and one wave of the doctor's wand, Harry was given a new pair of glasses with the correct prescription. He also got two pairs of contacts, one clear and one brown.

Another great find was a real estate agent who dealt with adding magic to muggle houses. However the houses were still muggle friendly and visitors of either origin could be entertained. After a week of searching Harry found a 2 bedroom flat that overlooked the water that he loved. He had never seen the ocean before this trip and found he loved it from the first minute on his cruise. It cost him a hefty American dollar, but with his inheritance and his new acclaimed one from his godfather, he decided to splurge a little, Sirius would have loved it.

After everything was settled in the house, furniture bought and his minimal items moved in. Harry decided to visit the Seals Recruitment Office signing up for the next Training and Seal Challenge. Immediately after this he signed up for the gym. He had to be in top shape before arriving, not expecting them to help him get there. Also, he only had 6 weeks to do it Harry knew it would be hard but he never backed down in a fight before, this wouldn't be his first time.

xxHPxx

Harry had limited time to get ready, but that didn't stop him from trying his hardest. He ran twice a day, and went to the gym and lifted once every day, he had 4-5 meals daily to keep his calorie intake up since he was using so much energy. He meditated, which he found out about via a book in a muggle bookstore. The muggle version of occlumency was much easier for him to comprehend. Meditation helped him control his emotions better, and let go of his guilt for Sirius and Cedric. Other than this he laid on the beach, rode his bike up and down the coast exploring, and generally just relaxed. He missed his friends and wrote letters to them but never did send any of them. He didn't know why but he didn't want them to guilt him into coming back. This was for himself.

When Harry arrived on August 1st, for Day 1 he looked much different that the first day of the summer break. He had gained weight and no longer had scrawny muscles, a tan, and no eye glasses. He then had to take the PST, if he passed he was one step closer to boot camp. The PST included: Swim 500-yards using breast and/or sidestroke in less than 12 minutes and 30 seconds, 10-minute rest, perform a minimum of 42 push-ups in 2 minutes, 2-minute rest, perform a minimum of 50 sit-ups in 2 minutes, 2-minute rest, perform a minimum of 6 pull-ups (no time limit), 10-minute rest, run 1 ½ miles wearing sneakers and shorts in under 11 minutes.

Harry made the cut and was official enrolled into Navy Seal Boot camp. One day down, eight weeks to go.

xxHPxx

It was July 31st, and the mood in Grimauld place was once again depressed. Remus had taken to drinking firewhiskey, and looking even more ragged than his normal appearance. Hermione's and Ginny's eyes were always puffy and red, Ron lost his appetite and Tonk's hair was no longer pink. Mrs. Weasley even lost her bubbly personality. Order members were running in and out from their work, daily lives, search for Harry, and looking for any news. Snape was even looking worse. Voldemort thought Dumbledore was hiding Harry and punishing Snape for his lack of information.

Bill Weasley had almost lost his job for snooping around Gringott's trying to find information. He realized however that if Harry had a portkey from the bank, then the goblins were helping him. And maybe he was safe and better off where he was. Therefore he kept his head down at work and didn't pry anymore. He just didn't tell the order that.

At dinner that night a Patronus came in the shape of a Lynx. Shacklebot was on Auror duty and not attending the meeting. "Attack at Godric's Hollow."

When the order members finally arrived they found the whole street to be utter chaos. Fires burned in every house, people laid dead in the streets, the original Potter house was no longer there at all. And the invisible to muggle statue that stood in the middle of the square now had a message in blood written on it.

Happy Birthday Harry Potter.


End file.
